Meghan Trainor opens up about ‘nightmare’ breastfeeding experience: ‘My boobies never made milk’
Meghan Trainor is revealing more about the difficult breastfeeding experience she endured after giving birth to her son Riley, now 1.
In a new interview for the podcast Not Skinny but Not Fat, Trainor, 28, goes into detail about her “traumatic” C-section delivery as well as the "nightmare" experience she endured when her body was unable to produce enough of a milk supply.
“My boobies never made milk,” the singer said. Making things even more difficult, she added, was that no one in her family knew how to approach the problem. “My families were cows, like, they all breastfed and had extra milk. I had nothing.”
Riley is the first and only son Trainor shares with pop star and actor husband Daryl Sabara, 30.
The singer later explained that, for three months, she had to attach a feeding tube to her nipple while feeding baby Riley as an attempt to “trick” her body into thinking she was breastfeeding — hoping it may induce her breasts to pump enough milk. Instead, the ordeal only created more stress.
“They told me my nipples were too small so it wouldn’t get in his mouth,” she explained. “We had a feeding tube of breastmilk attached to my nipple trying to pretend to trick my body into [thinking] I’m breastfeeding.”
“[Nurses] were like, ‘This is the new amazing medicine, or the new way, that just came out this year. I was like, this sucks,” she said. “Like, it’s just attached to my nipple. It’s a feeding tube that my husband is pushing the milk through [and] it splatters all over his face.”
Though she tried to breast pump as much milk as she could, all the while feeding Riley with the bottle, she says it never seemed to be enough to give her baby the nutrients he needed.
“It was a nightmare,” she explained. “But we did it, and after three months, my pediatrician was like, ‘Please stop. You look exhausted. He’s not gaining weight. Let’s just put more formula in him.’ And I was like, great, f*** it. As long as the coach says ‘tap out,’ I’m good. At least I know I went all the way I could go.”
The experience was the latest in a string of “traumatic” events following baby Riley’s difficult birth.
While touching on the wild journey she and Sabara went through on the day Riley was born, Trainor explained that, because Riley was breached, doctors performed a C-section. When he was finally free, she remembers not hearing him cry.
“It was seven minutes of getting him out of there — and you feel movement and you smell it and you hear it — and then they popped him out,” she remembered. “It was like the biggest pimple I ever popped, and I’m waiting for [him to] cry and I got no cry.”
“I finally said, ‘Where is that cry?’ And they were like, ‘So, he’s not doing so good,” she continued. “Then my husband was like, ‘Well can she see him? And they were like, ‘No we should really go.’ And then some nurse grabbed [Riley], showed him to me, I got my picture and they left.”
“That was traumatic,” she added.
Regardless of the experience, however, she credits becoming a mom with helping her realize that if she can get through that, then she can achieve anything in life.
“I wanted a baby since I was like 20, so I was ready and excited,” she said. “When I had a baby I was like, ‘There’s nothing I can’t accomplish.’ That’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done, and now I’m like, oh, everything [else] is easy. Piece of cake, let’s rock.”
Trainor has spoken about the joys of motherhood in the past. In an interview with Yahoo Life last year, the singer couldn't help but give credit where it's due.
"I'm a badass," she said at the time. "I didn't know how strong I was. A lot of people are like, 'Wow, you're so tough and strong.' And I'm always in my head [thinking], No, I'm so weak. What do you mean? And I also feel like 16 and Pregnant — I feel so young in my head."
"Because of going to the doctor appointments by myself, I had to really become an adult and I'm very impressed with myself," she added of her pregnancy. "I know now that I can achieve anything. I'm like, if I can get through that C-section, man, I can do anything."
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